Clif Smart

New funding for higher education is among the proposals this year from Gov. Jay Nixon, who said during his State of the State address in January he’d like to dedicate $34 million to the state’s colleges and universities based on their performance.

For Missouri State University, that means an additional 4.3 percent in funding, or roughly $3.3 million, for achieving all five performance measures.

Efforts to make a business more efficient to keep pace with the changing times and climate is nothing new. At Missouri State University, officials say the recent addition of a chilled water loop is one example, helping save on air conditioning costs. But its reliance on coal has many asking what other sources can be used instead.

In December, students urged the Board of Governors to focus on wind, solar and geothermal technology to derive 100 percent of its energy from renewable sources. So is that possible?

The director of Missouri State University’s bookstore is no longer with the university after an internal audit showed $400,000 missing from the bookstore, according to university officials. KSMU’s Jennifer Davidson has more.

MSU’s interim president, Clif Smart, told reporters that the university suspects that the bookstore director, Mark Brixey, worked the books for years by cashing checks payable to the university and keeping some or all of that cash.